The Tennessee Supreme Court may soon provide clarity to the murky issue of when parents can legally put their faith in prayer rather than medicine to heal a sick child.

The state’s high court has agreed to hear an appeal in a 12-year legal battle in Loudon County that pitted mother Jacqueline Crank’s religious freedom rights against state authorities who deemed her choice of prayer over medicine to be child abuse.

The grant of an appeal by the state’s top court is rare and typically signals the court’s desire to set precedent in unsettled areas of the law. Courts nationwide have been split over a parent’s right to shun medicine in favor of prayer, and the U.S. Supreme Court has been silent on the issue.

Defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs said Wednesday he and Crank are “extremely pleased” the state Supreme Court has agreed to take up the issue.

“This is an important question — fundamental rights involving parents’ privacy — that needs to be addressed in the state of Tennessee,” Isaacs said.

Jacqueline Crank’s daughter, Jessica Crank, died at the age of 15 in September 20002 from a rare form of bone cancer. Her mother, acting on the advice of alleged cult leader and Jessica’s “spiritual father” Ariel Sherman, spurned treatment in favor of prayer. After years of legal wrangling, both Crank and Sherman were convicted of misdemeanor child neglect. Sherman died from his own medical woes last year.

Isaacs is asking the state Supreme Court to consider the state’s Spiritual Treatment Exemption provision of a child abuse law, which he argues is too vague to pass constitutional muster as it provides no clear line for either parents or law enforcement to determine just when a reliance on faith healing is legal.

The Crank case began when Sherman moved his Universal Life Church flock to a six-bedroom house in Loudon County. There, he lived with Crank, her two children, Jessica and Israel, and a half-dozen other parishioners. Sherman held himself out as the “spiritual father” of Crank’s children and was reportedly Crank’s lover.

When Jessica developed a tumor on her shoulder, Sherman advised Crank to rely on prayer. Although she took Jessica to a local clinic at one point, the mother ultimately decided to rely on faith. Authorities intervened but Jessica died anyway.

State law allows a parent to choose faith over medicine provided that parent is heeding the doctrine of a “recognized church or denomination.” But the law is silent on what constitutes a “recognized” religion. It also offers no guidance on when or how courts should apply the Spiritual Treatment Exemption.

Rules for posting comments

Comments posted below are from readers. In no way do they represent the view of Stephens Media LLC or this newspaper. This is a public forum.

Comments may be monitored for inappropriate content but the newspaper is under no obligation to do so. Comment posters are solely responsible under the Communications Decency Act for comments posted on this Web site. Stephens Media LLC is not liable for messages from third parties.

IP and email addresses of persons who post are not treated as confidential records and will be disclosed in response to valid legal process.

Do not post:

Potentially libelous statements or damaging innuendo.

Obscene, explicit, or racist language.

Copyrighted materials of any sort without the express permission of the copyright holder.

Personal attacks, insults or threats.

The use of another person's real name to disguise your identity.

Comments unrelated to the story.

If you believe that a commenter has not followed these guidelines, please click the FLAG icon below the comment.